


Two Babies

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Canon, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Slash, Romance, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 04, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-02-20
Updated: 2004-02-20
Packaged: 2018-12-27 10:11:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12078975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Brian and Justin babysit Gus for the weekend.





	Two Babies

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

“Are you sure it’s not a problem?” Lindsay asked for the hundredth time.

“Jesus, I think I can handle taking care of a four-year-old for the weekend,” Brian grumped. Said four-year-old squirmed in his mother’s arms as a blond head poked itself through the doorway. Brian noticed and smiled; “besides, Justin’s here to lend a hand.”

The double entendre was not lost on Lindsay. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about! Caring for a child takes a lot of energy.”

“I should know. I get plenty of practice,” Brian grinned, leering at Justin, who picked up a stray article of clothing off the couch and heaved it at his boyfriend. “I could write my own ‘Care & Feeding of Sunshine’ manual at this point,” he continued, laughing and then clutching his chest melodramatically as Justin elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow, okay.”

“Gus will be fine, Lindsay,” Justin proffered, lending his hand to the boy as Lindsay set him on the floor. “We’ll have fun. And I’ll make sure that Brian doesn’t spend all weekend in bed,” he grinned.

“Promises, promises,” Brian grunted, stepping up behind Justin and planting a loud kiss on his cheek. “We’ll just have to fuck in the park while Gus is playing on the swing-set.” Justin and Lindsay just groaned.

Lindsay looked at her watch suddenly. “Shit, I’ve got to go. Have fun with Daddy, Gus,” she called to her son, who was already occupying himself with the contents of the surface of Brian’s coffee table. “Be a good boy; and Gus, too,” she quipped, shooting Brian a playful look of admonishment.

“Have a nice weekend, Mom,” Brian offered as Lindsay kissed him briefly on the cheek. She did the same to Justin, still wrapped casually in his lover’s arms around the waist, and let herself out, shutting the loft door behind her. 

“So what’s first on the agenda, Dad?” the blond teased, lazily dropping his head back against Brian’s shoulder as the older man started kissing his neck.

“A few shots of Jim Beam,” Brian mouthed through nips and nibbles.

“Not this weekend,” Justin protested sternly, straightening his posture and relinquishing Brian’s hold on him, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “You have a son to entertain, remember?”

“Two sons,” Brian smirked with a raised eyebrow. “If you recall, you both came into my life on the same fateful goddamned night.” He tried to sound grumpy, but the twinkle in his eyes ratted him out.

“Hmm, and you told Lindsay and Melanie that I only sucked on your tits when you wanted me to,” Justin laughed in remembrance. He moved a few feet away from the dark-haired man, not wanting to re-neg on the promise made to Lindsay about actually caring for Gus in the first five minutes that he was in their possession. “Now go get dressed, and we can take Gus out for breakfast. You don’t even have cereal here.”

Brian looked down at his hastily-donned grey university-themed sweatpants and blanched. “What did you have in mind?” he grimaced, running a hand through sleep (and other bedroom activities)-mussed hair. 

“I was thinking the diner,” Justin replied, plopping down on the couch next to Gus, who was engrossed in pawing through Brian’s copy of the latest “Vanity Fair”. "That way, Gus can have what he wants, and you can get your obligatory socialization quota in before sealing yourself off from the world for the weekend.” 

“Who says I won’t just take Gus with me to Babylon?” Brian smirked, snatching up a sock off the ground. 

Justin rolled his eyes. “I don’t think there’s a fake ID *that* convincing.” 

“That never stopped you,” Brian grinned.

Justin just snorted. “And anyways, remember what happened the last time you tried to incorporate babysitting and the backroom into the same weekend?” There was a hint of concern in his voice that spoke of his worry that Brian was going to be irresponsible this time around, too.

“How could I forget?” The older man rolled his eyes; “the munchers had my balls and you learned the importance of cooling down milk. A good time was had by all.” He patted Justin on the head condescendingly on his way to the bedroom. “Not to worry, Sunshine. I’m sticking around this weekend.” 

“Good,” Justin grinned.

“And if you’re a good boy,” Brian called, “I’ll make sure you’re extravagantly rewarded once Sonnyboy is asleep.” The lust in his voice was unmistakable, but before Justin could come up with a similarly saucy retort, Gus made sure his presence was known.

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” he announced, tired of “Vanity Fair’s” spring-time extravaganza spread, apparently.

“Okay,” Brian agreed, dropping his living room finds on the bed and pulling on pants and a shirt that didn’t seem too dirty. Silently bemoaning the loss of his independence to not one, but two boys, Brian grabbed his shoes and headed back downstairs.

-*-

“Having a good weekend, gentlemen?” Debbie cajoled the trio as they hunkered down in a booth.

“It’s passable,” Brian said plainly, not even bothering to pick up one of the menus that faux-redhead set on the table.

“The usual?” Debbie pressed, knowing full well that Brian only ever ordered a plain turkey sandwich and black coffee. Sure enough, the brunet nodded; Debbie wrote simply “Brian” on her notepad and moved on, smiling at the smallest member of the Kinney clan. “And how is Gus today?” she cooed, favoring him with one of her flamboyant lipstick-laden grins.

“Good!” Gus chirped, pudgy fingers wrapped loosely around corners of the laminated menu. “Can I have a hot dog and French fries, please?” he enunciated carefully, beaming at being able to mimic the grown-ups by ordering his own food.

“Sure you can, sweetie,” Debbie affirmed. She turned to Justin, who couldn’t help but smile at the utter cuteness that was Brian’s son. “What’ll it be, Sunshine?” she asked.

“Just the special is fine,” he told her, indicating the soup-and-sandwich combination that had become a regularly alternated brunch-time favorite at the diner. “And an iced tea, please.” Debbie bustled off to send their orders to the kitchen, and Brian and Justin shared a mutual smile as Gus picked up one of the large-sized crayons left on the table by a well-meaning Deb and began coloring on the place-mat. 

“What are you thinking about?” Brian murmured, reaching across the table to playfully tousle Justin’s hair.

The blond blinked in slight surprise, caught off-guard by the rather uncharacteristic utterance that had just slithered its way out of his lover’s mouth. “Just how much Gus looks like you,” he smiled.

“He did get the few good Kinney genes worth passing on, didn’t he?” Brian replied, admiring the look of concentration on his son’s face as he worked to color in a darkly outlined drawing of a duck. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll be joining you in art competitions someday,” the older man considered, eyes back on his slight lover. Justin flushed, a bit at a loss for words, and was relieved once again when Debbie saved him from having to answer.

“Here you are, boys,” she announced, dividing the plates amongst them swiftly. “What do you all plan to do with yourselves today?” she continued, popping her gum extraneously.

“I thought we’d take Gus to the park, then maybe the library or something like that,” Justin answered. “And then I’m going to convince Brian to watch ‘Dirty Dancing’ later tonight.” Brian nudged him underneath the table with his foot as the blond teasingly relayed one of his boyfriend’s most infamous turn-ons. 

“Yeah, I remember what ‘Dirty Dancing’ does to Brian,” Debbie snorted, slugging her practically-surrogate son on the shoulder as he fixed her with a raised eyebrow. “Be safe now, you hear?” she admonished, more out of habit than necessity, and proceeded to move on to the next customer.

“The library?” Brian scoffed once she was out of earshot.

“I thought it’d be educational for Gus,” Justin explained. “It’s not like the loft is equipped with a flourishing array of children’s literature.”

“Point made,” Brian sighed. “Since when did you get so in-tune with kids?” he smirked affectionately, reaching over to grab the ketchup bottle from Gus before it drenched his fries and turned the child’s plate into a re-enactment of the parting of the Red Sea.

“Since I helped Mom care for Molly,” Justin verified. “She wouldn’t let me bottle-feed her or anything, but I did get to supply entertainment.” He took a large bite of his sandwich in-between breaths. “What about you?” he ventured. “How’s your child-care street cred?”

“Piss poor,” Brian proffered, snatching a fry from his son’s plate absentmindedly. “My sister was older, we didn’t know any of our cousins, and good old Jack thought babysitting wasn’t macho enough for his manly son. ‘You’re going to turn him into a fucking fairy,’ he mimicked in what Justin figured was a pretty accurate imitation, having never met the man before he died.

“Did you ever worry about taking care of Gus, then?” Justin pressed, suddenly eager for details. “I mean, how’d you know that you were doing everything right?”

“He’s not dead or anything,” Brian replied curtly, barriers going back up. “Besides, Sonnyboy,” he grinned, perhaps to combat the sudden moodiness. “Like I told Lindsay, I get plenty of practice with you.”

“Fuck you,” Justin laughed, brandishing a piece of his sandwich crust as a mock sword. Brian snatched up another fry and, Gus egging them on with breathy laughter, proceeded to engage Justin in a “food fight” of sorts. The battle waged fiercely for several moments until Brian brought Justin’s hand up to his mouth and tugged on the crust with his teeth until Justin surrendered. “You cheated,” the blond smiled.

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Brian promised. He glanced at Gus, busily building a fort on his plate out of his remaining fries. The eldest brunet shook his head. “Much, much later.”

-*-

The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing mainly as Justin had predicted. The men took Gus to the park, Justin assisting in building a sand castle with slightly dampened dirt that Brain had refused to have any part in until the blond began chasing after him with a bucket full of the stuff. Satisfied that Justin wouldn’t pour it over his head, Brian eventually sat down and added “essential additions” to the makeshift architecture, including a hot tub and parking garage.

After that, the trio made their way to the nearest library, where Justin used his residual memories of babysitting Molly to help Gus pick out a number of choice selections. “The Berenstein Bears”, “Clifford the Big Red Dog” and a couple of Richard Scarry books later, and the boys made their way back to the loft. Gus, of course, insisted on being read to.

“’Hi, I’m Emily Elizabeth, and this is my big dog, Clifford,’” Justin recited, raising his voice a notch in pitch to accommodate.

Brian snorted from across the room, parked in front of his computer checking on a few stock quotes. “Who the fuck names their kid Emily Elizabeth?” he scoffed. “Assonance aside, they’re setting the poor bastard up for years of harassment.”

“Alliteration,” Justin corrected as his lover rolled his eyes. “And I don’t know, I didn’t write it.”

Later that evening, Brian glared sullenly as the smell of macaroni-and-cheese wafted from the top of the stove where his lover stood preparing it. “Come on, all kids eat mac-and-cheese!” Justin had exclaimed. “It’s a staple of their diets.”

“It wasn’t when I was his age,” Brian enunciated, waving a hand in front of his nose as if offended by the aroma of simmering pasta noodles.

“And that was, what, fifty years ago?” Justin teased, ladling a noodle and taking an experimental taste.

Brian glowered. “If you weren’t holding a pan of scalding water, Sunshine, your ass would be grass.” He tried to make it sound threatening, but Justin, ever the master of reading between the lines, knew it was just Brian talking big.

“Now, now,” Justin chided. “Not in front of the child.” He nodded over to said youth, who was digging around in his overnight bag for his favorite pair of pajamas. “What have you got there, Gus?” the blond smiled as he mixed margarine and milk into the cheesy conglomeration.

The little boy held up a folded sheet of paper. “Teacher had us finger-paint in school last week,” he explained. “She wanted us to draw our family.” He unfolded the sheet to reveal five childish stick figures standing in a line, the one in the middle noticeably shorter than the others.

“So who are all those people, Sonnyboy?” Brian asked, smiling at the exchange.

Gus pointed at each of the “people” as he spoke. “This one is Mommy and Melanie,” he explained, indicating the two “adults” on the left side of the smaller figure that obviously represented him. “And this is you and Justin.” 

The blond grinned. “Daddy looks almost like Melanie, what with their hair the same shade and length.” Brian threw a pillow at him, which landed a couple feet shy of Justin’s toes. “It’s good, Gus,” the artist complimented. “What did your teacher say about your drawing?”

“She wanted to know why I had two mommies and two daddies, and I said I didn’t know, Gus replied. “And then she said that I must just be a lucky boy.”

“You are,” Justin said softly, catching Brian’s eye. The two shared a secret warm glance; it lasted for several moments until Justin cleared his throat and effectively broke the silence. “Dinner time.”

-*-

“Do you hear that?” Brian murmured in Justin’s ear as he slid onto the couch next to his lover.

The blond settled back against Brian, almost purring as the older man began kneading his shoulders. “Hear what?” he moaned sleepily, head falling back into the crook of the brunet’s neck.

“Gus . . . is asleep,” Brian whispered heatedly, dotting Justin’s neck in kisses. “So hypothetically, we . . . are alone.” 

“And it only took repeated viewings of ‘Bob the Builder’ to do it,” Justin grinned, ensnaring one of Brian’s hands in both of his and squirming a little as it playfully groped him.

“You’re the one who had to make it worse by doing impressions,” Brian hissed into Justin’s now-flushed skin; his hand slipped purposefully down the front of the blond’s boxers. “I think that deserves a particularly harsh punishment, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve been a very bad boy, Mr. Kinney,” Justin returned throatily, feeling his erection grow as Brian teased. So engrossed in their foreplay were they several minutes later that the two men hardly realized they had an audience. 

“Gus!” Brian snapped, caught off-guard and with his pants – literally – around his ankles. “What’s wrong?” he persisted, a bit less harshly this time.

“I don’t have my night light here,” the little boy lamented, eyes curiously roving over his almost naked fathers. Justin hastily threw a blanket over his and Brian’s more delectable bits. “And I need a drink of water,” Brian’s son added.

“He can’t reach the faucet,” Justin realized aloud. Both men looked down at their crotches, thinking the same thing: whoever had the smaller boner automatically had to assist Gus.

Seeing the silent comparison was doomed from the start, Brian grabbed for his discarded pants and shimmied into them. “You are *so* not going to be able to walk tomorrow when I get back,” he hissed under his breath at Justin, who looked very smug.

Sex temporarily put on hold Brian retrieved a glass from the cupboard and held it under the tap, eventually handing it to Gus, who thanked him. “What were you and Justin doing, Daddy?” he said inquisitively after the first couple of gulps. 

Brian looked amused. “Something you’re entirely too young to know about yet, Sonnyboy,” he grinned, tousling the little boy’s hair affectionately.

Gus, ever-precocious, pressed on, unfazed. “It’s okay, Daddy. Mommy and Melanie do that sort of thing to each other all the time.” Brian visibly blanched.

“Off to bed with you,” he finally managed, mourning the gradual loss of his erection at the mention of Melanie.

“’Kay,” Gus mumbled, yawning suddenly, as if on cue. “’Night, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, Sonnyboy,” Brian returned, watching his son disappear upstairs into the guest area. The door closed softly, and Brian took the initiative to pounce on Justin, who was still grinning like the goddamned Cheshire Cat. “Now,” he smirked devilishly, pinning the blond’s wrists to the sofa cushion with his own long fingers. “Where were we?”

-*-

Gus was a big fan of Sunday morning cartoons, and to Brian’s dismay, Justin could be easily persuaded to engage him in conversations about which of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the coolest. (Raphael, no contest, Brian thought resolutely as he stirred his coffee.) For a moment, the older man almost considered inviting Mikey over to join in the debate; it was right up his alley.

“So what else is on the agenda today, besides some show about talking amphibians?” Brian finally asked, no longer able to stand it.

“I thought maybe we could take Gus to the zoo,” Justin offered, bemused at his boyfriend’s grumpiness. “Unless you want to crack into the Berenstein Bears,” he snickered.

“Zoo works,” Brian answered quickly, wondering again when he’d stopped controlling his own life.

He had to admit, though, that he was relieved that Gus was destined to have a happier childhood than his own. Trips to the zoo and library had never been activities Jack Kinney had made priority. If Brian got through a weekend without at least the threat of being beaten or somehow punished, he considered it a job well done. 

As for activities, Brian and his sister Claire were lucky to go to church every Sunday with Joan; any other time, their parents had been too wrapped up in themselves to care that they had children. Brian had never particularly cared himself, but he wondered sometimes what their neighbors had thought of the elusive Kinney posse. 

Suffice to say, the brunet had been thrilled when they moved to the ‘Burgh when he was fourteen. Not because the discipline-neglect cycle ceased, but because that’s where he met Michael Novotny. Brian was a highly intelligent loner who hadn’t quite grown into his body yet; Michael was a comic book-obsessed dork. Neither of them particularly cared to discuss their fathers.

‘Thank God we met,’ Brian recalled silently. When Joan was off at church (her other salvation besides alcohol) and Jack was in a particularly foul mood, Brian seeked refuge at the Novotny residence. At the time, it had only been Michael and his mother Debbie, who immediately took pity on Brian’s attention-starved, too-skinny frame and practically adopted him as a surrogate son. “You come over whenever you need to, honey,” she admonished frequently. “I don’t care what fucking time of day or night it is.” 

Brian had always been reluctant to give or receive affection, but there was something about Debbie’s flamboyant, suffocating, touchy-feely nature, so unlike Joan’s that he couldn’t help but appreciate it. Years later, neither Brian nor Debbie would ever admit it, but they both recalled incidences of Brian hastily wiping stray tears from his cheeks, wiggling out of the woman’s grasp so she wouldn’t feel the moisture on her shirt. She was the mother Brian never had, even dispelling advice when he was still deciding whether or not to father Gus.

“If you do it,” Debbie had warned, shaking the metal ladle she’d been using to stir a pot of soup in his face, “there’s no turning back. You’ll be bringing another life into the world. You can’t just decide you don’t want to deal with it one day, either – once you jizz in that cup, that’s it. Your choice is fucking made, kiddo.” 

Ah, Debbie had such a way with words.

“Brian?” Justin’s voice jolted him out of his reverie. “You coming?”

The older man made a show of peeking at his lap and raised an eyebrow. “Not this second,” he responded, tongue firmly in cheek.

Justin thwapped him on the arm. “Go get dressed,” he smiled. “Gus said he wants to see the monkeys.”

-*-

Six hours, three zoo admissions tickets, and a plethora of greasy concession stand food that Brian refused to touch later, and the trio had returned to the loft, exhausted. Gus had not only seen the monkeys, but every other living creature that the zoo had to showcase (and even some that didn’t), and had talked to them all.

One of the ladies standing near the giant aquarium exhibit had seen Brian place the little boy on his shoulders so he could be eye-level with a tropical fish that he fancied, and had smiled benevolently when Brian and Justin shared a brief, chaste kiss. “What an adorable couple you make,” she’d gushed. “I don’t see how people can make such a fuss over gay couples raising families if they’re all as loving as you.” 

Brian and Justin had tried not to laugh. They didn’t want to disillusion the poor thing – rather, Brian looked as if he wanted to, but Justin had nudged him in the ribs after recognizing the look in his lover’s eye that said he’d very much like to ravage Justin right against the glass tank just to scandalize the woman.

“I’m dead,” he moaned in present time, throwing himself horizontally on the couch. Gus kicked off his shoes and crawled onto his father’s lap, wrapping chubby arms around his neck. “Thank you, Daddy,” he said to Brian’s half-closed eyes and wearied expression.

“No problem, Sonnyboy,” Brian answered, patting his son on the back softly. They were still in that position when Justin came back from the bathroom only scant minutes later.

“Brian? Gus? You guys ready to watch Blue’s Clues?” he called, stopping in front of the couch. The two brunets’ eyes were closed, and their unlabored, even breathing told the blond that they’d decided to take a sudden nap.

Justin smiled at the sight and reached for the blanket over the side of the couch, unfolding it and laying it atop Brian and Gus. He then grabbed for his sketchbook and sat down in the chair opposite the inhabited piece of furniture, suddenly inspired. 

‘What do you know?’ the young artist grinned to himself as he drew. ‘I’m helping to take care of two babies this weekend.’


End file.
